Did you know that only about 20% of Americans own a passport? This number may be on the rise, but it's only because Americans are now required to show a passport when visiting Mexico, Canada, and parts of the Caribbean. The number of Americans who have traveled overseas, however, has been on the decline since 2006 (Source: OTTI). So while more of us have our passports, Americans are still not traveling abroad. We are still shunning the rest of the world. We have no new love of travel just because we now have passports. So why is it that America turns a blind eye to the rest of the planet and staying home?
I believe there are a few reasons:
First, America is huge. It is a well-known fact that the majority of American families go on vacation in other parts of America. Why? For one, the U.S.A. is not only massive but it also shelters a diverse range of environments. If you're looking for a beach vacation, go to Florida. If you want the tropics, go to Hawaii. How about the desert? You'll find it in Arizona. Visit Alaska's frozen tundra or temperate forests in Washington. This attitude is best summed up by a response I got from a friend in Iowa, who said, "Why would you want to go to Thailand? It's far away and scary. If you want beaches, just go to Florida." Americans simply don't see the need to go anywhere else when they can do it all in their own backyard.
But is geography a valid reason? Not really. If geography played a role in determining where people travel, no one would ever travel. Everything would be too far. Yet New Zealand is in the middle of nowhere and how many more Kiwis do you meet traveling than Americans? How many more Aussies? Tons. These countries are far away from everything. Outside of each other, it's a 6 hour trip to somewhere and if you go across the Pacific, it's 15 hours. The world is much farther away from them than it is us. Yet they travel. We don't. Size doesn't matter.
It's not that America's size makes travel prohibitive, its size is important because people feel there is no reason to leave. We don't need to travel to "big, scary places" when we have deserts, tropical islands, mountains, endless summer, wilderness, snow, and more. Every landscape can be found within America's borders. You can have everything you want here. When you feel this way, you aren't going to travel.
Which brings me to my second point: Fear. I think most Americans are scared of the world and when they see they have everything around here, it only reinforces their perception they don't need to go overseas. Just take a look at the recent election and you'll see what I mean. Sharron Angle warns of Sharia Law. The Chinese are to blame for all our problems. Mexicans are stealing our jobs. And the ground zero mosque, which is really a community center, is just a secret way for Al Qaeda to enter the country. Paranoia runs deep in this land. In this post-9/11 world, Americans have been taught that the world is a big, scary place. There are terrorists outside every hotel waiting to kidnap you. People don't like you because you are American. The world is violent. It's poor. It's dirty. It's savage. Canada and Europe are O.K., but if you go there, they will still be rude to you because you are American. No one likes Americans, right?.
Even before 9/11, the media created an environment of fear. In news, if it bleeds, it leads right? Prior to 9/11, the media played up violence at home and abroad. Pictures of riots in foreign streets, threats against Americans, and general violence were all played up to portray a violent and unsafe world. After, 9/11, it only got worse. Politicians now tell us, "they hate you" in the same way that former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani did during his campaign. It's US vs. THEM! And the media still perpetuates this idea.
Politicians and media paint the world as a scary place, filled with crime, hate, terrorists. Bill O'Reilly, a man who clearly has never been to Amsterdam, has called that city a cesspool. (Twice!) We are constantly told that there is anti-Americanism in the world -- wherever you go, people will dislike you. (This is a fallacy that is rarely disproven in the media). Moreover, America's hegemony since WW2 has ensured that we have been the dominant force in the world. Despite the rise of China, Brazil, and India, our politicians tell us everything in America is the best (yet we are #38 in health care). Countries will always do what they want. America is the leader. It is the city upon a hill. Yada. Yada. Yada. When you think you are the best, why go to "godforsaken" countries where they hate you for being American, are cesspool, and you might get robbed? Bombarded by this "news" and "facts" for decades, Americans think this myth is reality and don't want to leave the states. It's no wonder that when I tell my older friends and relatives I am going to Central America, they still think of the dangerous 80s and tell me to watch out for the Sandinistas.
Finally, I think Americans don't travel overseas because of cultural ignorance. Americans are ignorant, and when I say this, I mean ignorant that people are simply uninformed about what is going on outside the borders, not that they are dumb. I can't say I blame them. When you are told the world is scary, why would you want to care about it? Why would you want to go to places where they want to kill you? The result is that Americans don't put an emphasis on learning about the world. We don't learn a second language, we don't enroll in overseas programs, we don't have a travel culture, we don't do gap years, and we don't talk about our world in schools. Our schools teach one foreign language: Spanish, and that is only because we have a large Spanish speaking population in the country. Moreover, as education budgets continue to get slashed, humanity courses are usually the first to be cut from curriculum. This means that people learn very little about world history. In some states, the whole world has to be explained in one year.
The media doesn't focus on the world except if it relates to something bad and our politicians encourage us to erect walls not break down barriers. Additionally, surveys show that news agencies devoted only 10.3% to foreign coverage in 2008 (source) while oddly, 13% went to some polygamy case in Texas. We barely know anything about geography. Americans are simply not told about the world or clamoring to know about it.
In May, violence broke out in Thailand. I remember seeing it as front-page news in Europe and on CNN International. There was a small hyperlink at the bottom of the page on CNN US and Fox News. Lindsey Lohan was the number one news story that month. Again. We are more concerned with our celebrities than world events. Let's talk about Kim Kardashian instead of the EU debt crisis or Brazil's effort to clean up its slums.
The sad irony of all of this is that we created the world we are so afraid of. America's push for a globalized world brought many players onto the world stage. It helped the Chinese dragon emerge from its cage, it brought India into the game, helped Brazil, and tore down communism. We championed globalization, technology, and freedom around the world. Now that we helped foster that, we don't know what to do. Now, we look at the world and we're scared that we no longer understand our place in it. Instead of trying to learn more, we erect barriers, play to xenophobic fears, and bury our head in the sand.
I am hopeful though. The future of the world requires more integration, and it requires more young Americans who -- growing up in this post 9/11 environment -- are more interested in learning about other countries than shunning then. I think the future will be bright so long as political leaders don't wall us off completely before then.
Follow Matt Kepnes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nomadicmatt
Matt Kepnes: Are We Just Running Away?
1. Tokyo does not have to be expensive.
2. If I need help, people have always been kind enough to help me.
3. There is less violent crime in Europe and Asia than there is here; I have never been robbed.
4. Even if you have no sense of direction (that would be me), you'll still get there.
5. Not everyone hates Americans; people in Europe and Asia are politically aware enough to not confuse citizens with their government.
6. There is bottled water everywhere I have gone.
7. Even in eastern europe I was able to find vegetarian food.
7. I have never been hospitalized when traveling nor have I been injured.
8. Lots of people enjoy practicing their english with me.
9. Yes, Paris is as beautiful as you have heard, Venice has remarkable food, Japan is a wonderland, New Zealand is drop-dead gorgeous and you'll never know unless you go.
You may be partially correct that Americans don't have a desire to travel to "unsavory" places...but I think the larger issue is that people do not have the money to travel the way that they used to.
I think many Americans would absolutely love to go abroad, but need to save up for it not just financially, but in days off from work and in terms of planning, especially if it's a family with young kids. Traveling on long international flights with a very active toddler is *not* conducive to relaxation, it is a workout that has to be extensively prepared for. Many families want a relaxing vacation close to home (again, emphasis on relaxing, not on necessarily being afraid of other cultures) and/or want to use the little vacation time they have to visit family, and who can blame them?
The rich, you see, aren't like you and me.
I think the reason folks don't travel overseas much is about time. It is hard for most of us to take more than one week off at a time - it seams to me that you need to allow at least 10 days to two weeks to make a trip abroad meaningful.
Personally, I like to drive on my vacations. There are a lot of great off the beaten path places to visit within 500 miles of my house - jump in your car and head in any direction. You will always find something new or something overlooked in a previous excursion. What is cool about america is the rich cultural diversity that each region offers. Great food as well!
Driving across the states is still fairly cheap and can be adventurous.
Americans are ignorant of history as well as geography. We don't even know our own history well, yet abroad most ordinary people have studied their own as well as world history. Most Americans can't find some countries (or even some states) on a map, whereas most foreigners easily and effortlessly do.
Traveling abroad deepens the appreciation of the US, and does not diminish it. It affords an opportunity to expand one's knowledge, see first-hand the millenia of historical-cultural artifacts. By far the best part of foreign travel is that one gets the opportunity and pleasure to meet, mingle with, and know local customs, people, traditions and for them to get to know Americans as something other than cowboys and gangsters...it breaks down prejudices.
A passport is something you get when declaring your intention to travel abroad. In the least, it buys one the dreams of being able to do so. And the fact that only 20% of American actually bother obtaining one is a damning piece of evidence.
I just started traveling because I got a great job in the Middle East that affords me the luxury to do so. Before than I was a middle class college student who's parents couldn't afford to send me abroad. I spent the extra money I earned on my films for college and not on jaunts to Europe, Asia or Africa.
What about the fact Americans don't have tons of vacation time and the travel time to get abroad alone eats into that? Of course I'd LOVE for Americans to have more vacation time but that simply isn't the reality.
Plus, the cost of travel abroad is very limiting, especially once you have a family.
Please stop painting Americans as fearful ignoramuses. You sound like an American who travels so much you don't actually spend time with many Americans and simply digest the misguided theories of the foreigners you meet abroad.
Most Americans I know fall into three categories:
1. People who travel
2. People who don't travel because they don't have the time/money
3. People who don't travel because that is not their passion and they throw themselves into their obsession be it their family, art, dance, politics or whatever.
I don't diss non-travelers. In fact, point out where I ever say "you don't travel, so your lifestyle is meaningless." I don't because I don't feel that way. However, there are a lot of preconceived notions about travel, including "it's expensive" or "I don't have the time." My goal is to simply show that travel is affordable and can be done by anyone.
I'd also point out that having stamps in one's passport isn't necessarily evidence of sophistication, cultural awareness, or open-mindedness. Sometimes it just reflects a collector's mentality, whether the travelers are well-heeled retirees who cruise the world with their own kind or young backpackers who hang out with their own kind in the third-world country du jour.
Also, you don't have to wear your country on your sleeve. If you lay low and eat where locals eat, travel how locals travel, most people you will come in contact with are too busy with their own lives to care where you are from, which is how you want it.
http://thedromomaniac.com/
Fingers crossed hope to go to Costa Rica in the spring...GO Me!!!!!